What Adele Wants (a McRoll in the REAL World story)
by sammy1026
Summary: Steve and Catherine's quiet anniversary weekend gets interrupted.


_Mari & Ilna-you guys are the absolute best! Thank you for everything! You guys are the BEST!_

_REAL Worlders-you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the support and encouragement._

**If you've read the previous stories involving visits to the Briggs' haunted B&B this one will probably make more sense.**

* * *

**What Adele Wants (1/1)**

As Steve and Catherine crested the hill on their way back from a morning hike, they were startled to see a sheriff's cruiser in the driveway of the Briggs' Bed & Breakfast. Everything seemed fine when they left ninety minutes before, after one of Martha's signature delicious breakfasts. In fact. Steve had joked about having to hike all the way home to work off the extra helping of waffles he'd indulged in.

Martha had simply smiled and put some cranberry walnut muffins in a bag for them in case they got hungry before lunch.

They picked up their pace and by the time they reached the inn they were running. They barreled through the front door and found a slightly flustered Martha and an angry looking Oscar talking to the sheriff.

"Is everything ok?" Catherine asked immediately. "We saw the sheriff's car and we were worried."

"Everything will be fine," Martha assured them as her hands fluttered nervously. "We certainly don't want to upset our guests."

There was a whoosh in the corner of the room and a soft bang as a book fell from the credenza to the floor.

"Or our residents." Martha hurried over to pick up the book. "It's going to be ok, Adele," she said softly. "The sheriff will take care of things."

"Someone broke into the barn last night," Oscar explained. "Stole the old weathervane. It's been in the family for generations. It blew down in a storm a few weeks back and I haven't had a chance to get it put back up."

"We've had a rash of similar break-ins around town in the last few weeks," the sheriff explained.

"Oh, where are my manners," Martha fussed. "Sheriff Parker these are two of our favorite guests, Steve McGarrett and his wife Catherine Rollins."

Steve extended his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Same here," the sheriff replied. "I heard you speak at a seminar last year on community policing. We've had success with quite a few of your ideas."

Steve smiled. "Glad to hear it."

"And Lieutenant Rollins. My deputy, Elena Kapua, took your self-defense class a few months ago and still hasn't finished gushing about it. She's going to go nuts when I tell her you're staying here this weekend."

"Tell her to stop by and say hello if she gets a chance," Catherine smiled.

"I'll do that." The sheriff turned back to Martha and Oscar. "I think I have everything I need for now. If you can find a picture of the weathervane for me to circulate around that'd be great. In the meantime, I'm gonna take some pictures of the footprints in the dirt outside the barn and dust for fingerprints. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"If I can be of any help at all please let me know," Steve offered.

There was another whoosh in the corner of the room.

"I think Adele thinks I could use your help," the sheriff chuckled, "But I don't want to interrupt your vacation."

Steve looked at Catherine and she couldn't miss the determined look in his eyes. He'd commented on previous visits about how beautiful the weathervane was and he was clearly upset that someone would steal such an iconic item. Something with such a strong connection to Oscar and Martha's family and their past.

"You wanna help, don't you?" She grinned.

"I really do," he admitted. "But not if you don't want me to."

"Go ahead," she smiled. "I'll help Martha find that picture and start circulating it to all the pawn shops and antique dealers on the island."

Steve nodded. "Good idea. If we turn up anything out in the barn we can send it to the lab and probably get quicker results." He turned to Sheriff Parker. "Was there any evidence from any of the previous scenes?"

The sheriff looked momentarily shocked. Was the head of the Five-0 task force really offering to help him with a string of garage and barn burglaries?

"I didn't mean to step on your toes," Steve apologized when he saw the look on the sheriff's face. "I just thought maybe I could help."

"Are you kidding?" the sheriff said. "I'd be thrilled to have your help. I was just kind of surprised, that's all."

"I can't let someone get away with stealing from two of my favorite people." Steve smiled at Martha who immediately blushed.

A whoosh passed right in front of Steve and Catherine.

Then another.

"Or my two favorite spirits," Steve said sheepishly.

"She has a way of getting what she wants, doesn't she?" Sheriff Parker chuckled. "I've lived in this town my whole life. I used to do odd jobs around the inn when I was a kid. I learned early on that Adele has her ways of getting things done."

"She does indeed," Martha beamed.

"I'm sure your deputy knows who in this town someone would go to if they wanted to sell a stolen item like the weathervane," Catherine said. "If you can spare her for a few hours maybe she and I can make the rounds and see what we can find out."

Sheriff Parker nodded. "She'll be thrilled."

Steve leaned over and kissed Catherine on the cheek then turned back to the sheriff. "Ok, let's do this."

* * *

"That was the lab," Steve said as he slid his phone back into his pocket. "The boot prints we sent them aren't gonna be much help. They're a size 10 Timberland boot. Relatively new. No identifying markings on the soles."

"That could be a whole lot of people in this town," the sheriff said.

"That's what I figured." Steve nodded. "We may have more luck with the tire treads though. They're Nitto Ridge. Not a very common brand. The lab sent the results over to my team and they're checking now to see where the closest dealer that carries them is."

Steve's phone rang and he looked at the caller ID. "It's Catherine." He connected the call. "You're on speaker phone. What's up?"

"_No luck so far finding the weathervane or any of the stolen items, but we have a few more places to try. I called Frank Kapua at the Department of Transportation and he's putting an alert out to all ports. If they're gonna try to get something that big off the island it's probably gonna be by boat so he has his workers keeping their eyes out."_

"We might have a lead on the tires," Steve told her. "We should know in a few minutes."

"_Great. Keep us informed."_

"You too."

Steve disconnected the call and laid his phone on the sheriff's desk. He turned his attention to the map spread out there indicating the location of all the burglaries. There didn't seem to be any sort of pattern as the thefts spanned several neighborhoods and an area of about 20 square miles. "Is there any connection between these property owners?"

Sheriff Parker shook his head. 'We've checked." He picked up a stack of folders holding statements from each of the victims. "Three business. Seven private residences. No one works at the same location. Two go to the same church. Four shop at the same grocery store. Three go to the same gym. But nothing that connects them all. At least nothing we've found yet."

Steve exhaled and ran his left hand through his hair. "We have to keep looking."

He and the sheriff were going over the statements once again, scouring for even a tenuous connection, when Steve's phone rang.

"What have you got?" He answered without preamble.

"_Only you could go away for your anniversary and wind up involved in a case."_

"It's a special talent," Steve said. "Did you get anything on the tires?"

"_I just want to say … yet again … that you are the luckiest SOB on the planet. You do realize most women would have your head for something like this, right? On your anniversary trip to boot? But not Catherine. No. She just called and gave me a list of pawn brokers and antique dealers to check for rap sheets."_

Steve grinned. "What can I say?"

"_Nothing at all."_ Danny huffed but Steve could hear the smile in his voice. _"Looks like there's only one place within 30 miles that sells the tires you're looking for. Mokoa Tires."_

"Makoa Tires?" Steve asked the sheriff.

Parker nodded. "I know it well. They do the tires on all the department's cars."

"Thanks, Danny," Steve said. "I'll keep you posted."

* * *

"I don't even have to look at the records," the young man behind the counter at Mokoa Tires said. "We've only sold one set of those in the last few months and we had to custom order them. They're not something we keep in stock on account of the price. Not many people want to spend that much on tires."

"Who'd you sell them to?" Sheriff Parker asked.

"Speedy Water Delivery," the man replied. "Palipo Kalili drives the local route. I called him a few days ago to let him know they'd arrived, and he came right in and had me put them on. Good thing too. The ones he had on there were bald. I was kinda surprised when he ordered the Nitto Ridge's because they're pretty expensive."

Steve and Sheriff Parker shared a look.

"Who knows. Maybe one of his schemes finally paid off." The man shrugged. "I've known Palipo for a lotta years. He's always got something cooking."

"Thanks for your help," the sheriff said, and he and Steve headed for the car.

As he walked Steve texted Catherine. "Meet us back at the B&B."

"_On our way,_" came the immediate response.

* * *

Thirty minutes later Sheriff Parker, Deputy Kapua, Steve, Catherine, Martha and Oscar were all gathered in the foyer of the bed and breakfast.

"Yes, Palipo has delivered our water for years," Martha said. "Are you saying he's the one who stole the weathervane?"

"And committed all the other burglaries?" Oscar added.

Sheriff Parker nodded. "It looks that way. We're putting out an APB for him as we speak."

"It may not take long," Martha said. "He's due here any minute. It's our normal delivery day." She glanced at her watch. "He's always here right about now. I usually give him some cookies to get him through the rest of his day."

Several loud whooshes filled the room, moving from one wall to the other. This was not the normal placid Adele sighting. The normally happy ghost was clearly irritated.

"Stand down, Adele," Steve said in a reassuring tone. "We've got this. We're gonna get your weathervane back."

Catherine chuckled. "You've come a long way, Commander. The first time we came here you didn't believe in spirits and now you're talking to Adele."

Steve grinned. "She won me over."

"She has a way of doing that," Martha bubbled. "Let's give the police a chance to do their job, shall we?" she said to the empty corner of the room. "How about if you and I go and make some tea, Adele?"

As the older woman left the room she talked to excitedly to her spirit companion. "I know! I'm glad they were here too. I knew they'd help find your weathervane."

* * *

Palipo Kalili collapsed immediately under questioning and admitted he'd been responsible for the string of burglaries. He'd met a man named George Sanchez, owner of a company called Island Lore Antiques, in a bar one night. Sanchez had an idea for a way the two of them could make some easy money stealing valuable antiques from local homeowners and selling them on the black market. Since Palipo was always in the market for a quick buck he'd agreed to the scheme.

When Sheriff Parker and Deputy Kapua raided Island Lore Antiques they found the weathervane being packed for shipment, along with records of where all the other items had been sold which would make recovering them and returning them to their rightful owners much easier.

As Steve and Catherine sat on the deck enjoying a glass of wine and watching the sunset they were joined by Martha and Oscar.

"Don't let us bother you," Martha said. "We just wanted to thank you again for all your help."

"Our pleasure." Catherine smiled. "Please, sit down and have a glass of wine with us."

"We don't want to intrude," Oscar said.

"Nonsense, we'd love you to join us," Catherine assured them.

"I was just thinking," Steve said after the Briggs' got settled, "If you want, I can help you get the weathervane back up on the barn before we leave tomorrow."

"Oh my," Martha fussed. "That's too much to ask. We can hire someone to come help us do it."

"Don't be silly," Steve said. "It won't take long. Sheriff Parker said he'd be happy to help. We can get up there and get it done it done in no time."

Martha looked at Oscar. She certainly would feel better once the weathervane was back in its rightful place. "If you're sure," she said.

"I'm positive." Steve squeezed Catherine's hand. "After all, we have to keep Adele happy."

"That we do," Martha giggled. "That we do."

**THE END**

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